


playing with the air (breathing in your hair)

by odekarnstein



Series: the beauty of difference [2]
Category: Carmilla (Web Series), Carmilla - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe- No Supernatural, F/F, Fluff, Road Trips, San Francisco, Smut, delinquent and goodie au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-24
Updated: 2016-12-24
Packaged: 2018-09-11 12:15:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8979274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/odekarnstein/pseuds/odekarnstein
Summary: Carmilla falls in love all over again. This time harder and faster. Two weeks in California with the girl that became the girl of her dreams didn't ever seem like a bad idea, but it becomes one of the best she'll ever have.





	

**Author's Note:**

> i recommend reading the original part of this series before this. you might miss a bit without it.  
> (title comes from the song The 1975 by The 1975.)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _William was turning sixteen; Maman gave him the ability to do whatever he wanted, within reason. Your mother wasn’t very reasonable when it came to her sixteen year old son, so of course she said yes when he requested that he and his friends go to San Francisco. Meaning that you got stuck taking them to the coast. A eighteen hour trip, with six teenage boys who are too focused on sports to pay attention to girls._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been having a lot of problems lately, but i finally have a laptop i can use with the program i write with (Luckily i had all my stories backed up onto a flashdrive) and i've fallen back in love with writing again. being stressed and busy really doesn't help with creativity. Anyways, this is inspired by an ask I got a couple months ago. Obviously my creativity got a little out of hand with it and it turned into its own story. I'm still writing so i dont know/have a plan for when the next chapter will be.  
> (story title is The 1975 by The 1975 and chapter title is Drive by Halsey)

_My neck,_  
_The feeling of your soft lips,_  
_Illuminated in the light,_  
_Bouncing off the exit signs,_  
_I missed._

* * *

 

William was turning sixteen; Maman gave him the ability to do whatever he wanted, within reason. Your mother wasn’t very reasonable when it came to her sixteen year old son, so of course she said yes when he requested that he and his friends go to San Francisco. Meaning that you got stuck taking them to the coast. A eighteen hour trip, with six teenage boys who are too focused on sports to pay attention to girls. You tried everything to get out of it, pulling every card you held- which consisted of: _“But Mattie is more responsible and you always say they need more bonding time.” And “He’ll be sixteen. He can handle himself.”_ \- but she refused. When she took a break from work to actually pity you; she gave you enough gas money to drive from New York to San Francisco instead of Colorado to San Francisco, a list of what William wanted to do, and said that you were allowed to bring one friend and that Will could drive on his own, but you had to keep him in sight.

  
Friend turned into girlfriend. Maman knew that it was bound to happen. The idea of being able to bring Laura on the trip made things ten times brighter and you and Will already panned on splitting the money and doing your own things when you got into town. Agreeing to stay in the same hotel and keep in touch. You can only imagine what he’ll get into, seeing how much you wore off on him.  
The only problem is getting Laura’s father to let her go. He still had some buff with you. He always will, you think, you’re not exactly the type of personality he’s fond of; especially when it comes to his Little Laura. You have nothing going your way that will get his approval by yourself. Especially when he’s constantly saving your ass or walking in on you and his daughter. You’re depending on Laura to pull the “I’m almost eighteen and I’m going to college next year.” speech and he’ll feel guilty enough to let her go. You may not many strings to pull with him, but she does. He may be tough, but all his walls break down when it comes to Laura. She doesn’t like the idea when you bring it up that evening when you sneak through her window.

  
“Carmilla, you know I hate doing manipulating him.” She says, her hands on her hips.

You shrug, “I wouldn’t considerate manipulation; just pulling strings to get your way. And it’s up to you, cupcake. But it would be a getaway from this hellhole.”

“This _hellhole_ , is the place I happen to call home.” She glares, “And my morals and yours don’t exactly go along with each other

.  
You shrug and take a few steps towards her. She continues to glare at you until you give her a mischievous grin and drop your voice and octave before saying,  
“C’mon. Two weeks of you and me. No dads or moms and only the occasional brother.”

She holds her fight up for about a second and a half more before dropping it with a groan, “Fine. But I’m not promising you anything.”

  
“See? Pulling strings can be a plus for both sides,” You chuckle and kiss her cheek before heading towards the window, “You won’t regret it, Cupcake.”

  
You’re about halfway down the drain pipe before you hear her shout, “Why don’t you ever use the front door?”

  
Her dad calls Maman and talks to her the next day. It doesn’t even take ten minutes before he tells Laura she can go. You thank your mother and her incredible business skills. Something she’s passed onto you, just in a different way of use; it comes in handy most of the time. Laura calls you four minutes after you find out, squealing with excitement and surprise. You listen to her go on for about twenty minutes before giving her a list of things she “needs” to pack.

  
_“1. Bikinis_  
_2\. All the clothes hidden in the back of her closet_  
_3\. Her video camera”_

  
You can tell by the tone of her voice that she was rolling her eyes, “What about the basic necessities?”

  
“I guess you can bring those too.”

  
Two weeks later, it’s five in the evening and the bed of your truck is full of suitcases and tote bags. Inside, you packed a small cooler with a twelve pack of grape soda, enough canned coffee to get you to the first pit-stop, assorted fruits, and cookies. It sat where Laura’s feet would be along your film camera and enough space for a small bag for her. Laura was bringing whatever else she thought was necessary. You caved in and bought some contraption for cassette tape radios to have an AUX. Laura pressured you to buy, “So you wouldn’t have to risk having your cassettes ruined.” You think it was her good-natured way of getting more legroom- not that she needed much- and a chance to make you sit through the pain of listening to _her music_. There were very few artists that you both shared the same opinion of. While most of them were introduced from you to her, the music you listened to was grunge or rock. Not something to set the mood. The idea of having to listen to Taylor Swift on the way down there was a dread in your mind, and Laura had already made a schedule of when the each of you would have the aux. Sure it was fair. But it’s your radio, so shouldn’t you get control over it? After a long debate about it, you settled for when she falls asleep you get custody of it. You already knew you would get it for most of the ride down. She wasn’t the night owl you were.

Your brother’s SUV (Mother decided that it would be best for him) was full of boys and a cooler with snacks, energy drinks, and soda. You made Will promise that whenever he got tired, he would make one of his friends drive. It would be his first time driving for an extended period of time, and you’d rather be safe than sorry. Plus you might as well make having six boys on the trip useful.

The plan was to get whatever Laura was bringing into your truck, eat dinner, drive for nine hours to a motel, get some sleep, and then drive the next nine and eventually get into San Francisco. You could easily get an actual hotel but saving that little bit of money meant more for you. Since you were the only legal adult going on the trip.

  
You made sure Will had enough gas money before telling him to meet you at the diner on the edge of town and then head over to Laura’s. You speed to the other side of town and when you pull up, the front door is thrown open and Laura bounds of the house. You jump out and give her a quick hug before taking her- obnoxious amount of- luggage.

  
She squeals, “I can’t believe this is actually happening!”

  
You agree and put her suitcases in the back and strap it down. She starts to organize everything up front when her father approaches you. He’s still in his suit from work and seems to have forgotten to let off his courtroom attitude. You close the door of your trunk and turn around to face him.

“Be careful, Carmilla,” He says seriously, “I don’t want my little girl hurt.”

  
“Of course, Mr. Hollis.” You don’t argue, you don’t have enough time for one of his lectures. The sun is already starting to set, “I love her too, you know?”

He gives a curt nod before saying, “Don’t get into trouble you know you won’t be able to get out of. I don’t have the ability or money to fly out there and save you.”

  
You mock salute him, “Yes, sir.”

  
He follows you to the front of the truck. You feel his eyes glaring into your back. It hurts you in some ways. You’d expect after three years of dating his daughter that he’d have some sense that you don’t want Laura in harm as much as he does. You’d hope he have some ability to see that his daughter is capable of making decisions, and if anything, asks to get into trouble with you. You may be reckless, but you keep her far from anything that she’ll dislike or get hurt in. You think he still believes you’re doing it for yourself. Not for the relationship itself. Especially the way he brushes it off when you remind him that you do love her.

  
You jump into your car and roll down the window. Laura has already set her side up; complete with the yellow pillow, white comforter, quilt, and a portable reading lamp. She grins at you when you start the car back up.

 

“Damn, Cupcake, you wanna just move your bed into the front seat?”

  
Her grin turns into a glare but she perks back up when her dad appears behind you. She waves excitedly and points around the cab of the truck,  
“Comfy looking, right!”

  
He chuckles and nods, “The best way to have a road trip.”

  
“Laura, keep in touch and have fun. Keep everyone out of trouble, you hear me?”

“Yes, sir.” She playfully salutes.

  
“Love you, little bear.”

  
“Love you too, dad.”

  
You nod in goodbye and pull away, mocking Laura about “Little bear” on the way to the diner. She shakes her head the entire time and claims that you’re just too cold to understand fully. You point out that you’re not cold at all because you’re not the one with the blanket. She punches your shoulder in response to that one.

  
When you get to the diner, Will and his friends are already there, sitting at the breakfast bar. You order the burger special, Laura orders the breakfast special, and Will and his group order a dinner platter, which is made to cater events, in an effort to save their money. They’ll probably end up eating the leftovers on the way there, or for breakfast when you leave the motel. Laura tells you all the landmarks and attractions she wants to visit, listing what all the activities are for each. You agree, but make her promise that you will spend a couple days just living the local scene.

  
“And do you think we can go to L.A.?” You ask, hesitantly.

  
She gives you a confused look, “What about Will? And if my dad ever found out I would be de-”

 

“It’ll only be a day or two. C’mon, cupcake. There’s so much to do there, and I have a couple friends offering their couches.”

  
You try your best to muster up puppy dog eyes, but they’ve never been your strong hold. The death glare, though, is something you had down from the day you turned five.

  
Laura caves, “Okay. But we do all the stuff I want to first.”

  
You grin and kiss her cheek, “You won’t regret it.”

  
The boys stuff their faces and meet you and Laura out front. They walk out on Laura lecturing you about the risks of smoking. You point out that you’ve done much more and worse than smoking a couple cigarettes a day. You run through the plan again and making sure that everyone has the location of the motel, just so anyone who takes over will be ready. You and Will have never been good at following Mother’s requests; you plan on taking back roads if you hit any traffic, which you doubt since you’ll only be just making it into Nevada. Will plans to stay on the interstate. You go through the plan one more time and Will stops you before you check to make sure everyone has the address again.

  
“I know, Carmilla,” Will says, “Can we just go now?”

  
He mutters something about Laura rubbing off on you under his breath. You shove him and ask him to say it a little louder. He just glares at you and goes to his car.  
You’re on the road exactly at seven. The sun is starting to set and you get the first turn with the AUX. You play songs that Laura does enjoy. It consists of the less _aggressive_ music. You think she likes to play the whole, “My girlfriend is so punk” thing. When, in reality, you have a couple piercings and a bad attitude with a good music taste. You may or may not have a couple pin and poke tattoos. Still, it’s not _Slipknot_ or _Of Monsters and Men_ heavy. Your tastes stick around the innovators, who just also happen to be the punk and alternative. Those there are the preteen bands that you still hold very close to your heart.

  
Laura likes the passenger seat as much as you like the driver’s. There are very few times that you’ll trade places but you feel like at some point in the trip, it’ll happen. For now though, you have the windows down and are blaring _The 1975_. Something of a guilty pleasure that only Laura is let in on. At first listen, they sounded like an unholy whine, but after many attempts, you eventually started to enjoy them. You kept the windows down until you passed all the traffic, to Laura’s request, but as soon as you got to a point where you were moving faster than 60 MPH, you felt a warm feeling settle in your chest.

  
Two weeks of you and Laura. Just the both of you in a bigger city than you’re used to. It’s something you’ve wanted for a while.

  
You hear the familiar click of your film camera. You glance at Laura who’s got a gentle smile on her face when your eyes meet.

  
You’re film camera was your grandfather’s. You have no idea who he is or if he is even alive still, but you remember receiving it on your tenth birthday. Maman gave it to you. She said it was the only thing that you have left from your biological family. You kept it on the top of your bookshelf until you decided that you were going to photographer, and everything was better on film. It also suits your aesthetic. Laura laughs at you when you tell her the story. She doesn’t like photos. She loves video, because you get “So much more feeling from a couple seconds, rather than a second.” That’s something you bicker over when there’s nothing else to do.

  
The sun is completely hidden behind the mountains about an hour after you start drive. Despite the fact that Laura brought two blankets, she ends up wearing _your_ hoodie. As much as you complain about it, you don’t mind. There are certain things that makes your heart skip a beat, and Laura wearing your hoodie is one of them. It always has been.

  
Laura doesn’t even try to argue with you when you start to speed once you get onto the freeway. All the sugar she had hit her early on in the evening and she lost most of her energy belting lyrics to _Fall Out Boy_ , one of the preteen bands that will forever be in your heart, and _Muse_. They’re something you’ll settle with. She convinced you to let her roll up the windows and was cuddled into you. She was always cold. No matter how warm it was.

  
She gets the AUX again when you cross into Wyoming. She’s merciful enough to keep to songs you can tolerate. They include popular rock songs that her dad tried to show her and she refrains from Taylor Swift’s love ballads. You think you only hear two One Direction songs. But at that point, you only hum along to the songs you’re familiar with. You love Laura. You really do. But her music is still something you won’t come to terms with anytime soon.

  
“Cupcake…” You drawled, starting to get tired.

  
She looks up and it takes your breath away. You thank whatever was out there for not having a console, even if her dad would start yelling about how dangerous the position you are in is. _But she was just so beautiful._ She has her head sitting on your lap and her book sitting on her chest to listen to you. The faint glow of her reading lamp brings out the lightness of her expression. In the spur of the moment, you reached across the dash and grabbed your camera. Taking a picture before she could protest. You already know it’ll be your favorite picture. Something in your gut tells you.

  
“Is that really what you wanted?” She asked, sounding bored.

  
You pay attention to the road again, “To see your beautiful face? I alway want that. But not really. Can you grab me a coffee?”

  
She groans and sits up. Complaining how you can reach for your camera but not for your coffee. You point out the fact that you’d have to do a lot more to get a coffee. She pops open the can and asked if that was enough pampering. You stick your tongue out at her before taking a huge chug.

  
She squishes her face up in disgust, “I don’t understand how you do that.”

  
“And I don’t understand how you eat and _entire pack of cookies_ only three hours in.”

  
She pouts and returns back to her book. This time she’s nestled against you. You kiss her shoulder and wonder how lucky you are to have this girl.

  
You and Will meet up at a gas station in the middle-of-nowhere at hour five. You made sure that everyone was okay with making the rest of the drive. Only two boys were up at that point. While you’re pumping gas, she restocks on cookies and grape soda. She surprises you with chocolate covered fruit, two hot cups of coffee, and a hot dog. 

  
The passing land was coaxing Laura to in and out of sleep. You tell her you can survive being awake alone, you’ve had longer nights than this. Plus it’s only three more hours. She tries to fight it but falls asleep at hour six. She’s leaning against the passenger door now, looking a lot more like a cocoon than a person under blankets. You take the opportunity to play music that she doesn’t like. The bass crackles through your busted speakers and you’re going way over the speed limit. You don’t really care though. You’d much rather be cuddled up with Laura rather than stuck behind the wheel. You’re glad she is asleep though. An awake and sensible Laura would make you pull over and switch spots with her.

  
You keep an eye out for Will and cops. His SUV manages to stay at the same speed as you. The road was deserted for an hour. Nothing coming towards you or the same way as you. It’s too dark to really tell, but you guess you’re in the farmlands of Utah.

  
You’re phone glows from a text you get from Will,

  
_**Little Brother (2:47am):** How are the lovebirds doing in their nest?_

  
_**Kittycat (2:51am):** Laura’s out. I’m on my second cup of joe._

  
_**Little Brother (2:53am):** Two hours and seven minutes till West Wendover, Nevada._

  
_**Kittycat (2:58am):** Assuming google maps is precise._

  
_**Little Brother (3:00am):** Two more hours._

  
_**Kittycat (3:06am):** Get you’re beauty sleep, little brother._

  
_L **ittle Brother (3:09am):** Tired of me already?_

  
_**Kittycat (3:12am):** Tired of trying to text and drive. Seriously, another long day of driving ahead. Go to bed._

  
_**Little Brother (3:14am):** Night, kittycat._

  
_**Kittycat (3:19am):** Dream of San Fran for me._

  
You don’t remember crossing the state line. It all looks the same and you were going way to fast to pay attention to any signs. You relied entirely on your GPS, which probably wasn’t smart. You were ready to be in bed with Laura. You may have slept most of the day and you may pull all-nighters often but you’re usually doing something fun, like Laura or reading. Driving the same length of road with no change in scenery was boring. Plus, you couldn’t turn your music up above six or Laura would start to rustle around.

  
At this point, her feet were in your lap, her face smashed against the yellow pillow, she was holding onto the comforter like it was you, and the quilt was draped carefully over her thighs. She let out a little “tuf” every time she breathed out. She was all too cute. You’d love to take a picture. Instead, you tried to push the truck to move faster. The downside of having a truck from the 70s is it doesn’t move as well as the others.

  
You nearly miss the exit to get to West Wendover. You jumped out of your skin when your phone shouted, _“Turn onto the upcoming exit.”_ The town seemed pretty small as you drove through; following whoever was driving in Will’s Boy-Mobile. It was nearing six AM and you heard nothing from Will ever since you told him to sleep. You chuckled in joy when you saw the vacancy sign flashing ahead of you.

  
You jumped out of the truck, careful not to slam the door, and walked into the main office. You could still hear it’s engine rumble from inside the cinderblock walls. An old man shot you nasty glares and mumbled something about “Inconsiderate kids” as he gave you three keys. They were rusted and the tags enlisting the room numbers had been painted over a few times. You said thanks, gave him a tip, and went to the truck and grabbed you and Laura a change of clothes. Will clambered out of the car and gave you a look up and down.

  
“You look like hell, sis.” He said, taking two of the keys from you.

  
You rolled your eyes, “I usually do. Hurry up and get what you want from the truck. I wanna throw the cover over it before I go sleep.”

  
He shoved you playfully out of the way and grabbed one of his duffel bags. One by one, the rest of his team made their way to you. It took ten minutes; you were counting in your head. When they were finally finished, you locked the cover and went to the cab. Laura was sleeping so peacefully that you didn’t have the guts to wake her up; so instead, you carried her into the motel room.  
You laid Laura down, threw the clothes on the desk, and cuddled up behind your sleeping girlfriend, almost immediately falling asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading and feel free to bother me on my [tumblr](https://www.odekarnstein.tumblr.com)
> 
> Also, Happy Holidays!

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks again for reading!
> 
>  
> 
> [writing blog](https//:www.odekarnstein.tumblr.com)  
> [main blog](https//:www.carmxllakarnstexn.tumblr.com)


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